This radicchio salad with blood orange is a fantastic winter and spring salad. This salad has intense and bold flavors ready to kick the winter blues out! The fruitiness and sweetness of the blood orange paired with the bitterness of is an experience. With some crunchy fresh fennel and celery, this salad has it all. But beware: The flavor of radicchio is not for the faint-hearted!
Ingredients for making Radicchio Salad with Blood Orange:
- Blood oranges
- Radicchio
- Fennel
- Celery
- Almonds
- Apple sauce
- Apple cidre vinegar
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
- Pumpkin seed oil
- Optional: Vegan feta cheese substitute
- Optional: Fresh basil
The main ingredients for this salad are blood oranges and radicchio. The sweet, almost raspberry-flavored oranges are a fantastic counterpart to balance the intese bitterness of the radicchio. Next, we will add fennel and celery for a fresh crunch and flavor. For the dressing, we will use the juice of blood oranges, apple sauce for additional sweetness, some apple cidre vinegar for an added kick, olive oil and salt & pepper. The dressing is light and simple and the vegetables and fruit in this salad will do the rest. Lastly, we will finish the salad with some vegan pumpkin seed oil, which makes a fantastic addition to this salad. If you have a nice vegan feta substitute available, its creaminess would pair perfectly with this salad.
Blood Orange Radicchio Salad Recipe:
Making this salad is quite simple. We will sauté the radicchio in a pan to mellow its flavor a bit. Aside of that, it’s just about cutting and combining the vegetables and fruits, pan-roasting the almonds and quickly shaking up our simple dressing.
Sautéing the Radicchio & Toasting the Almonds:
Firstly, peel off the outer old leaves of the radicchio. Slice it into wedges so the tough core still holds the leaves together. Briefly sauté the radicchio wedges in a pan from each side for 2-3 minutes with a bit of salt. The colour of the radiccho will change from bright red more towards a light brown. I like to have a bit of roast on it, but also for some leaves to remain crunchy and uncooked. This makes a delicious mix! Once the radicchio is finished roasting, take the wedges out of the pan. Allow them to cool down before slicing the leaves off the tough stem. Next, chop up the almonds into rough bits and toast them dry in your pan on medium-high heat.
Making the dressing:
In a mason jar, combine the apple sauce, apple cidre vinegar, freshly-squeezed blood orange juice, olive oil, and salt & pepper. Shake the dressing until well-combined, then check for seasoning. The dressing can be on the sweeter side for this radicchio salad.
Bringing the Salad Together:
Next, peel the blood oranges. Blood oranges can be a bit tricky to peel. I’d recommend slicing the bottom so they stand up straight, and then carefully removing the peel with a knife. Next, I cut the blood orange into big cubes. i like to have some bigger, juicy bits in this salad! Wash the celery and cut it into small bits. Also, peel of the tough outer layer of your fennel. Discard the top and tough bottom bits as well. Then, cut the celery into fine strips.
Lastly, cut the vegan feta cheese into cubes. Combine the vegetables, half of the vegan feta cheese. fruits and dressing in your bowl into a colorful salad.
Plating the Radicchio Salad & Serving Suggestions:
Add a serving of salad on your plate. Finish the radicchio salad by garnishing it with the remaining vegan feta cheese substitute, toasted almonds, a generous drizzle of pumpkin seed oil, and fresh basil.
This salad can also be enjoyed on the next day. Simply keep it in the fridge, the radicchio will taste fine on the next day as well! Only the toasted nuts might loose some of their crunch, so you may want to keep them separate.
I hope you like this radicchio salad. It certainly has a unique flavor. Radicchio might be the most intense vegetable I have ever cooked with. But if you manage to pair that bitterness with enough aciditiy and sweetness, you are in for a treat. I’ll certainly make this salad again next winter!
Some Recipe Suggestions:
- Blood orange salad with Belgian endive
- Beet salad with grapes and nuts
- Blood orange olive oil cake with rosemary
- Easy panzanella salad
- Dandelion salad
- Couscous salad with roasted fig
- Chiogga beet dish
Radicchio Salad with Blood Orange
This blood orange radicchio is a fantastic winter and spring salad. This salad has intense and bold flavors ready to kick the winter blues out! It is simple and quick to make and delicious. But beware: Radicchio is quite bitter!
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
1 radicchio
8 blood oranges
2 stalks celery
1 fennel
25g almonds
75g vegan feta cheese substitute
3 tbsp apple sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pumpkin seed oil
2 tbsp apple cidre vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp apple cidre vinegar
Optional: 1 handful of fresh basil leaves
Instructions
Firstly, peel off the outer old leaves of the radicchio. Slice it into wedges so the tough core still holds the leaves together. Briefly sauté the radicchio wedges in a pan from each side for 2-3 minutes with a bit of salt. Once roasted, slice the leaves of the stem.
Next, chop up the almonds into rough bits and toast them dry in your pan on medium-high heat.
In a manson jar, combine the apple sauce, apple cidre vinegar, freshly-squeezed blood orange juice, olive oil, and salt & pepper. Shake the dressing until well-combined, then check for seasoning.
Peel the blood oranges and cut it into big cubes. Thinly slice the fennel and cut the celery. Combine the vegetables with the dressing and half of the vegan feta cheese.
Finish the radicchio salad by garnishing it with the remaining vegan feta cheese substitute, toasted almonds, a generous drizzle of pumpkin seed oil, and fresh basil.
Notes
The dressing should be on the sweeter side to match the bitterness of the radicchio.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Salad, Starter, Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan